The nature of modern video games is that many of them release broken. As open worlds grow more sprawling and online-only ecosystems become larger in scope, too often do such grand ambitions results in a final product that isn’t anything like the one promised by trailers.
The nature of modern video games is that many of them release broken. As open worlds grow more sprawling and online-only ecosystems become larger in scope, too often do such grand ambitions results in a final product that isn’t anything like the one promised by trailers.
Rather, to everyone’s chagrin, you run home to find that the latest triple-A release you’ve spent months looking forward to playing is in fact flawed, defective, and filled with bugs. Hi, Fallout 76.
No more does the sting of buggy games prove harder to bear than in those where it’s clear that they would have been great, were it not for the perseverance of glitches and stutters. We thought it worth looking back in appreciation of these unpolished gems; those that should have scaled the heights of critical and commercial greatness, but for whatever reason remain doomed to sit on the pile of games regularly referred to as “a broken mess”. In some cases, a little unfairly.
As the first Assassin’s Creed to release exclusively on the current generation of consoles, what should have been cause for excitement with Unity was instead a PR fiasco for Ubisoft back in 2014. The issues with French Revolution-set entry were rife, with the player-controlled Arno often falling through the ground, getting stuck in hay carts, bumping up against invisible walls and, at times, finding that parts of his own face were missing.
All these technical issues detracted from a game that otherwise featured one of the most beautiful renditions of Paris we’d ever seen. One that should have should have been endlessly fun to parkour through, all while experiencing a story that let you brush shoulders with such historical figures as Napoléon Bonaparte and the Marquis de Sade.
Assassin’s Creed Unity also saw the introduction of a new take on co-operative multiplayer that challenged you and friends to take on assassination missions together. Cool innovations like this have since been left forgotten by the wayside, however, especially since the continuing RPG-ification of the franchise marches forward as evidenced by the relatively bug-free (by comparison) Origins and Odyssey.
